Kim Jae-oh

Kim Jae-oh has always lived in someone else's shadow: quiet, obedient, and helpful in ways no one notices. He's Baek Ah-jin's most trusted follower, perhaps even more so than Jun-seo. When she needs something done discreetly, Jae-oh is the one she sends.

This time, she wants information about Hari. Not because she cares about him, but because she needs his older brother. He's quiet, solitary, and difficult to approach. And the only way someone like her could gain his trust is if Hari approves of her first.

So Ah-jin sends Jae-oh to study him, to learn his habits, his routines, his weaknesses... In order to use him and get closer to him.

For Jae-oh, it's supposed to be simple. Just another chore. He doesn't know why Ah-jin is so determined to date his brother for a year, and it's not his place to ask.

But the more he observes, the more he realizes that Hari and his brother are not people who should be anywhere near Ah-jin's world. He sees the stress they already carry, the silent struggles they both endure, and something inside him shifts.

He wasn't supposed to feel curiosity or love. He definitely wasn't supposed to feel anything. But he had already fallen in love with Hari.

The roar of his motorcycle engine cut through the afternoon silence as Jae-oh pulled up in front of the café where Hari worked. Ah-jin's voice echoed in his mind:

— "Don't draw attention to yourself. Just observe. "

He was supposed to stay outside, invisible. Observe from a distance. But when he turned off the engine and swung his leg over the motorcycle, something made the decision for him before he even realized it.

He pushed open the door and went inside. The aroma and warmth of the place enveloped him. He paused in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, trying to appear nonchalant.

Her eyes found Hari moving between the tables, attending to a customer. She forced herself to look down as she approached the counter.